SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY: Stay calm urges Jay Bothroyd

PAUL THOMPSON
SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY

JAY Bothroyd insists that Wednesday must stay calm on and off the pitch despite being in the Championship’s bottom three and without a win in eight league and cup games.

The striker says it is too early to worry about the club’s league position and prescribes more composure in their attacking as one of the cures for their lean run.

Bothroyd has used Twitter to give his views after the 1-0 defeat by Hull.

He echoes manager Dave Jones’s view that the Owls should have had a penalty for a challenge on Michail Antonio and that a header by Miguel Llera was over the line before it was cleared.

“We’re just not getting the rub of the green,” said Bothroyd. “We should have a goal clearly over the line, and a penalty, I thought.

“We get into great positions and we haven’t had enough composure to cross/pass/finish at the end.

“No need to be worried. It’s a bad patch. Doesn’t matter where SWFC are in the league now. It matters in May.

“In the international break we must recharge the batteries and come back raring to go.”

Bothroyd, best known as a central striker, was again played on the right side of a 4-1-4-1 formation and had one of his best games for the club.

“I actually like that position,” he said. “I get the ball more and face their goal more than ours.

“It’s not about tactics. We have to defend better and have a better end product.”

Bothroyd went to the touchline briefly during the first half and was taken off in the 77th minute, with Jones saying that the forward had been having trouble with his breathing and had to use an inhaler - described by the player as his “asthma pump.” The Owls manager suggested that the cold air was to blame.

“I thought Jay was playing really well,” said Jones. “He gave us control. He was slipping some good balls in and good crosses. We missed him, really, when he went off.”

Jones also welcomed the return of Lewis Buxton after his hamstring injury: “Lewis did well. I don’t think he put a foot wrong, and he gave us more balance on the right.”

The Owls boss did not think his team gave a bad performance and he felt they were unfortunate to lose, but paid for one defensive lapse.